Instead of presenting a sweeping biographical portrait, Rob Reiner confines his narrative to the chapter in Lyndon Johnson’s life dealing with the Civil Rights Act, thus reducing the landmark decision to a plodding parable for our times. For suspense, Reiner intercuts the first half of the movie with Kennedy’s ill-fated motorcade. Woody Harrelson squeaks just under the bar set by Randy Quaid in the TV biopic LBJ: The Early Years. The actor has the voice and overblown mannerisms down pat, but in certain light Harrelson’s makeup is so distractingly unconvincing that one half-expected the Vicks inhaler to become wedged in his plasticine nostril. Other than the light leaking onto the set that passes for chiaroscuro, the brightest spots in the film are Jennifer Jason Leigh’s commiserative turn as Lady Bird and Michael Stahl-David portraying Bobby Kennedy as a calculating little prick. And quite frankly, Richard Jenkins — cast here as “rashist” Senator from Georgia, Richard Russell — would have made a much more convincing 36th president. (2016) — Scott Marks
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